When preparing to interview for a position or negotiate an offer, start by researching the organization and position to which you are applying and the hiring manager and team with whom you would work.
Develop confidence in interview settings by scheduling a mock interview or interview coaching session with one of our graduate career advisors, or use Big Interview to practice a mock interview tailored to your specific industry, job and experience level.
Need additional guidance? Schedule an advising appointment to learn about job interview questions and strategies, practice mock interviews or discuss negotiating job offers.
Interview Room Reservations
Reserve a room
Looking for a quiet space for a virtual job interview? Reserve an interview room with Career Success in the Flawn Academic Center (FAC) 2.236.
Interview Types
Preparing for an academic interview? Visit our academic career preparation resources.
Behavioral Interviews
Nearly all interviews include questions about your past behavior, which can help interviewers predict how you will behave in the role for which you are applying. Questions might be asked about specific examples of your past behavior or projects. Not all behavioral interview questions are designed well, so be sure to provide answers that demonstrate your skills, abilities and fit.
Example Questions
- Tell us about a time you worked in a team.
- What was the project, your role and the outcome?
- Tell us about a time you failed.
- What do you think has been your greatest accomplishment and why?
- Provide an example of a complicated problem you solved.
Behavioral Interviewing Resources
Case Interviews
Case interviewing questions are often used in consulting, finance and some business interviews to assess analytical, problem solving, communication and teamwork skills. They are conducted both in group or 1:1 settings, and often include an analysis performance task that is sent in advance. Case interviews involve a specific scenario for which you are asked to provide a recommendation or solution. Interviewers using the case method are watching to see your process, so it is important to talk through the way you approach the problem. Keep in mind your role in the group, and demonstrate your analytical strengths by creating a framework for the problem.
Example Questions
- A client of a company is a hotel located in New York City. Their primary customer base is made up of mostly foreign tourists. What are some factors that these customers would seek out in a hotel? What influences may affect their decision to stay at the client’s hotel?
- How many automobiles are sold in New York each year?
Case Interviewing Resources
Management Consulted
All UT Austin graduate students and postdocs have free access to Management Consulted, a leading global resource for consulting recruiting, consulting interview preparation and consulting skills training. Sign in with your UT EID to access preparation courses, drills and hundreds of practice cases.
Mckinsey Case Interviewing Resources and Sample Cases
Review a list of resources including interactive case interview samples provided by consulting firms, video case interview demonstrations, case books and materials developed by the team at IGotAnOffer.
Technical Interviews
Technical interviews are used to assess mastery of technical skills and problem-solving processes. These are often used by competitive tech companies to evaluate coding skills. Be prepared to use a white board to show your thought process.
Example Questions
- What is a cross-site scripting attack, and how do you defend against it?
- Work through the provided coding challenge on a white board.
- What is ETL and when should it be used?
Technical Interviewing Resources
Technical Interview Guidance
Visit the College of Natural Sciences Career Services Office website to access more resources and guidance on technical interviews.
Exponent
All UT Austin graduate students and postdoctoral scholars have access to Exponent, an interview preparation platform designed to help you ace technical interviews at leading tech companies. Click log in, choose Log in with University, select UT Austin and then sign in with your EID to access interview prep courses, sample questions, mock interviews, referrals and more.
LeetCode
LeetCode is an online platform that helps users learn, practice, and assess coding skills, with over 3,500 practice questions in 14 popular languages.
Geeks for Geeks
Explore interviewing resources, coding tutorials and hundreds of coding problems. The Geeks for Geeks emphasis on the theory behind the solution will help you ace the behavioral interview round, too.
HackerRank
HackerRank is a platform where programmers from all over the world come together to solve problems in a wide range of computer science domains such as algorithms, machine learning, or artificial intelligence, as well as to practice different programming paradigms like functional programming. Learn new skills and practice solving complex problems.
TopCoder
Explore longer, more rigorous technical problems across programming, design, and data science, and solve real-world problems for companies worldwide.